Review of Maibenben X639 gaming laptop with LSS

Every computer is known for its performance, and portable PCs are especially proud of this quality, since in addition to speed they must also provide mobility. There is some contradiction in this class of devices: the greater the demands of users, especially gaming enthusiasts, the more difficult it is for manufacturers to meet their needs. However, there are interesting hybrid solutions that combine the best aspects of desktop PCs and laptops, at the expense of some compromises in weight and compactness. One such technique, which has already been repeatedly used in practice, is the use of an external liquid cooling unit (LCU) for a powerful gaming laptop. Our review focuses on testing the Maibenben X639 model, equipped with such an innovative cooling system.

According to the specifications, Maibenben X639 has a number of advantages that set it apart from competing models:

1. A truly top-end configuration: the latest (thirteenth) generation Intel Core i9-13900HX processor with an unlocked multiplier, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 discrete graphics with 12 GB GDDR6 and 32 GB DDR5-4800 RAM operating in dual-channel mode.
2. The screen has a native QHD resolution, a high refresh rate of 240 Hz and a fast response time.
3. A set of high-speed ports for connecting peripherals: 3 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Thunderbolt 4 with its traditional PowerDelivery and DisplayPort. Taking into account the available HDMI 2.1, the latter makes it possible to connect two external monitors to the machine simultaneously.
4. High operating speeds of adapters for cable (2.5 Gbps) and wireless (Wi-Fi 6E) connections to computer networks and the Internet.

The Maibenben X639 cover is metal, made of magnesium alloy with a semi-matte surface that is resistant to fingerprints.

On the lid of the laptop there is a pattern of diagonal lines in the lower left corner, and in the upper right there is the Maibenben logo, which is illuminated in different colors during operation and red when the lid is closed and the laptop is in standby mode.

The diagonal of the laptop screen is 16 inches, which is a compromise solution that allows you not to increase the size and weight of the portable device to extreme values. These parameters are slightly larger than those of common models with 15.6-inch displays, but less than those of systems with 17-inch screens. The laptop has a screen aspect ratio of 16:10, which is not quite traditional for gaming models. Instead, it is more suitable for laptops intended for business. However, it is more beneficial to have a wider screen for gaming purposes to increase the viewing angle of the scene. Overall, compactness is not the strong point of the Maibenben X639, but for a gaming laptop, high performance and a high-quality screen are more important than reducing size and weight.

The thickness of the laptop with stands is 26 mm at the front and 35 mm at the rear (without stands — 25 mm at the front and 33 mm at the rear). The weight of Maibenben X639, taking into account our measurements, is 2.34 kg. If you add a power adapter with cables, which allows you to play only when connected to the mains, the total weight increases to 3.49 kg, and the external liquid cooling unit increases the load by 980 grams.

The power button is located in a separate row on top of all the others. On the left next to it is a button for cyclically switching operating scenarios.

The keyboard is equipped with a backlight with four levels of brightness (the fourth state is off). Increasing brightness is done by repeatedly pressing Fn+F7, decreasing — Fn+F6. The characters on the keys themselves and their outlines are highlighted. The backlit area under each key is clearly visible when tilted away from the keyboard. The light distribution allows you to clearly see the symbols of the Russian layout.

To access the insides of the Maibanben X639 laptop, you need to unscrew the 12 screws that secure the bottom cover (bottom) to the device body. These screws are usually not covered with stickers and have a standard Phillips head, making them easy to remove using a suitable screwdriver.

On the bottom area, which is located under the SSD drives, there may be some kind of radiator and thermal stickers. This is designed to improve the process of heat removal from the heating components of the electronic circuit of solid-state drives (SSD). Thermal adhesives are used to increase heat dissipation efficiency and prevent overheating of components, which contributes to more stable and secure operation of SSD drives.

The largest amount of internal space is occupied by the components of the laptop cooling system and the battery. The motherboard is relatively compact, occupying less than 50% of the total area. It is represented by a main module, to which a central processor, a video card, RAM, and two satellites are attached — right and left. The satellites are connected to the main board using cables and carry connectors for connecting peripheral devices. One of the satellites, located on the right in the picture, has USB Type-A and audio connectors, while the other satellite, on the left, is equipped with two USB Type-A ports and an SD memory card slot. This design solution allows the board to be installed in cases of various widths, providing a certain versatility, especially for compatible hardware.

The print quality of the conductors and the wiring of components are ideal; No defects were identified, even when using a magnifying glass. However, during assembly there are some complaints about the part for which a person is responsible: a lot of unprotected wires and cables, which in some places are routed between the guides and in some places secured with adhesive tape. On the housings of fans and heat pipes, insulating gaskets made of foam rubber and thermoplastic are applied in several places to prevent contact of the bottom plastic cover with the heating elements of the cooling system.

To upgrade your laptop hardware, the following options are provided for installing and replacing components:

• Adding RAM to free slots (expandable up to 64 GB);
• Installing additional NVMe in the second free M.2 slot;
• Using the first M.2 slot for system storage (the slot is already occupied);
• Replacing or upgrading the wireless adapter;
• Replacing the battery.

Maibenben X639 is equipped with two slots for RAM modules with a two-level arrangement.

Both slots are occupied by equivalent SO-DIMM modules of 16 GB DDR5-4200 each, thanks to which the memory operates in dual-channel mode.

Yes, the laptop has two M.2 slots for SSD drives. The first slot is already occupied by a Kingston OM8SEP41024Q NVMe drive with a capacity of 1 TB and a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface. The second M.2 slot is located next to the first and has similar interface specifications, so you can install the same SSDs in both slots and create a RAID array.

By using both M.2 slots, you can configure the array as a single logical unit of two physical drives. This can be implemented as RAID0, which will increase the total capacity and double the read/write speed. A RAID1 option is also possible, which will provide data duplication between two drives to increase the reliability of information storage.

The choice between RAID0 and RAID1 depends on your needs. RAID0 provides faster speeds and more capacity, but also increases the risk of data loss due to the failure of at least one of the drives. On the other hand, RAID1 provides a higher level of data protection through duplication, but reduces the capacity to the size of one of the disks. Please remember that setting up RAID may require changes to the BIOS/UEFI and operating system, and may result in data loss on the existing drive when creating the array. Before doing anything with RAID, it is recommended that you back up important information.

The Intel AX211NGW wireless device, located under the left cooler (corresponding to the right side in the photo), is a tri-band Wi-Fi 6E adapter. This adapter supports the IEEE 802.11ax standard, which operates at 2.4 GHz, 5.6 GHz and 6 GHz. It has the ability to simultaneously receive and transmit data using two antennas (2T2R MU-MIMO) and supports parallel data transmission over Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDMA) radio channels. In addition, this adapter provides the ability to work using Bluetooth technology.

Wi-Fi 6E technology is a modern and efficient solution for mobile PCs. It allows operation on an expanded spectrum of frequencies, including the new 6-GHz band, which improves performance and data transfer speeds, especially in dense networks and high loads on wireless connections.

In the part that opens to the eye when you remove the bottom cover, the cooling system has a more or less typical scheme used in most gaming portable PCs — 2 coolers / 4 radiators.

Low profile fans draw air through holes in the bottom and use two separate heat exchangers to push the air out. The heat accumulated on the dissipators is removed using heat pipes: four pipes from the GPU, three from the CPU, with two of them common to both processors, providing synchronous cooling by fans in case of load on each processor. Another heat pipe is used to remove heat from the video card’s batteries, RAM and the HM770 chipset.

One of the features of the Maibenben X639 cooling system is an additional pipe laid on top of two GPU heat pipes and two common for both processors. When using an external liquid cooling unit, coolant circulates through this tube, increasing the efficiency of the cooling system.

The main component is an external unit containing a coolant reservoir (the manufacturer recommends using distilled water for this purpose), a heat exchanger with a radiator and a fan blowing it.

On the front of the external unit there is the Maibenben logo, and in the lower third there is a power button in the form of a light guide with an activity indicator that glows blue.

The panels show numerous holes for the movement of air, which is taken in by a fan on the right and thrown out to the left.

A filler neck with a plug is placed on top, sealing the tank tightly. The capacity of the latter is about 200 ml, but 100 ml is enough for effective operation. When working with LSS for a long time, you need to check the coolant level from time to time and top it up if necessary.

The connection is made using pipes with magnetic fittings, which simultaneously act as valves.

This avoids liquid spillage when disconnecting connections.

The power supply of the unit is connected to the open circuit of the laptop adapter. An additional short cable is used to connect to the connector on the rear panel of the Maibenben X639.

On the left side surface of the external unit there is an inspection window (for some reason matte) for monitoring the coolant level in the reservoir.

To drain water from the tank, use a special device that allows you to open the magnetic valves of the external unit. There is no other way to remove water.

To control an external liquid cooling unit (LCU), there is a special section in the performance settings in the Game Center program. Bluetooth is used to connect to the external unit. After connecting the tubes and power cables, you must perform the following steps:

1. Reboot the system.
2. Press the power button on the external unit (with a blue indicator on the front panel of the unit).
3. In the «Game Center» program, select the appropriate section, then begin the «connection» process.
4. After establishing communication, select the “water input mode” option or a similar function provided for controlling the external LSS unit.

These steps will help you initiate the connection and enable cooling mode using an external liquid cooling unit. However, it is important to follow the instructions and recommendations of your device manufacturer for the safe and correct use of the external liquid-liquid system unit.

Although a bunch of tubes and wires may not look very aesthetically pleasing in working order, aesthetics take a back seat to the utility of this solution. The main advantage of connecting an external liquid cooling unit is not only the possibility of additional overclocking, but rather its ability to significantly reduce the noise of the laptop's fans under maximum load.

Using an external liquid cooling unit can reduce the thermal load on the internal components of the laptop. This allows the fans to run at lower speeds or even stop periodically, which significantly reduces noise levels during intense laptop use. For many users, this is a critical aspect as it provides a more comfortable working environment with high productivity.

To call up the BIOS settings, after turning on the power, press Del when the Maibenben logo appears on the screen.

Settings in the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) of the device are combined into five sections or tabs for user convenience:

1. Main: This contains information about the device's hardware components and firmware version.
2. Advanced Settings: In this section, the user can activate options such as waking up the laptop on a signal in the local network, virtualization (for example, Intel VT-x), selecting the operating mode (office, balanced, turbo), as well as restoring the system after unsuccessful GPU overclocking installations. Here you can also select the graphics operating mode (for example, MS Hybrid or using only a discrete video card).
3. Security: This section is for managing security settings such as administrator and user password requirements, secure startup, and other security aspects.
4. Boot: Here you can select the device from which the operating system will initially boot.
5. Exit: This section is for exiting the settings menu with or without saving the changes made.

Unfortunately, the BIOS of this device does not have options for controlling overclocking of the processor, video card and RAM. To perform such settings, you can use a proprietary utility provided by the device manufacturer.

Maibenben X639 was handed over to us for testing purposes with Windows 11 installed and the proprietary Control Center utility (in the Russian version — “Game Center”).

This proprietary utility provides the ability to obtain information about laptop hardware and configure custom functions, grouped into six sections:

1. General settings: Here you can quickly configure options for switching the functions of some buttons and system parameters.
2. Performance: Allows you to assign a working profile, select fan operating modes and use overclocking capabilities to improve performance.
3. Backlight settings: Allows you to change the color and character of the backlight of the keyboard and other components of the laptop, including the external liquid cooling unit.
4. Battery: Provides information about the battery and its level of wear, and also offers the ability to change the charging mode.
5. Display Settings: Allows you to configure display settings and perform color calibration without intervention from the operating system.
6. Device Information: Displays system information and provides monitoring tools for related parameters to monitor device operation.

In the «Quick Switch» subsection, you can enable or disable the Windows key, the OSD settings menu, Num on the number pad, the Fn key, switch touchpad functions, enable or disable support for powering external devices using USB, and activate the automatic startup of the laptop when connecting a power adapter from electrical network.

The “Windows Devices” subsection allows you to start working on your laptop with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a webcam, and a touchpad already turned on.

The “Windows Devices” subsection allows you to start working on your laptop with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a webcam, and a touchpad already turned on.

In the “Performance” section, you can select operating modes (presets, profiles, scenarios), custom adjustments for overclocking, the nature of the reaction and rotation speeds of coolers, as well as control of the life support system.

The Backlight Settings section contains numerous options for customizing the keyboard backlight, the Maibenben logo on the laptop lid, and other options.

In the fourth section (“Battery”), three options for charging the battery are available, including the one that is necessary to extend its service life (stationary mode).

A separate window displays the current state of the battery with the remaining charge and the expected battery life with it.

The display customization options are quite advanced. There is even the possibility of color calibration, which, however, we do not recommend using, since it is not clear how exactly this so-called calibration occurs.

In the last section you can get information about the hardware components of the device...

...and obtain data on the current state of the system, more precisely, on the load level of the central and graphic processors, RAM, system storage and fan speeds (as a percentage of the maximum, which, by the way, is not indicated anywhere).

The laptop uses a 16-inch IPS panel with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels. Its outer surface is black, hard, semi-matte (specular). There are no anti-glare coatings or filters. No air gap. When powered from the mains or battery and with manual brightness control (there is no automatic adjustment based on the light sensor), its maximum value was 354 cd/m² (in the center of the screen on a white background). If you avoid direct sunlight, then this value allows you to somehow use the laptop outdoors even on a sunny summer day. To evaluate screen readability outdoors, we use the following criteria obtained from testing screens in real conditions:

These criteria are very conditional and may be revised as data accumulates. Note that there may be some improvement in readability if the matrix has some kind of transreflective properties (part of the light is reflected from the substrate, and the picture is visible in the light even with the backlight turned off). Also, glossy matrices, even in direct sunlight, can sometimes be rotated so that something quite dark and uniform is reflected in them (on a clear day, for example, the sky), which will improve readability, while matte matrices need to be blocked from the light to improve readability. Sveta. In rooms with bright artificial light (about 500 lux), you can work more or less comfortably even with a maximum screen brightness of 50 cd/m² or lower, that is, in these conditions the maximum brightness is not an important value.

Let's return to the screen of the laptop under test. If the brightness setting is 0%, the brightness is reduced to 17 cd/m². In complete darkness, the brightness of its screen can be reduced to a comfortable level.

At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering (no PWM). As proof, we present graphs of brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for different brightness settings:

This laptop uses an IPS matrix. Microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure (black dots are dust on the camera matrix):

Focusing on the surface of the screen revealed chaotically located microdefects of the surface, which are responsible for the matte properties:

The grain of these defects is several times smaller than the size of the subpixels (the scale of these two photographs is approximately the same), so focusing on microdefects and the “jumping” of focus across subpixels when changing the viewing angle are weakly expressed, because of this there is no “crystalline” effect.

We measured brightness at 25 points on the screen, located in increments of 1/6 of the screen width and height (screen borders not included). Contrast was calculated as the ratio of the brightness of the fields at the measured points:

If you step back from the edges, the uniformity of the white field is very good, but the uniformity of the black field and, as a result, the contrast is much worse. The contrast, by modern standards, for this type of matrix is ​​slightly higher than typical. Visually you can see that the black field in some places, mainly closer to the edge, is slightly brightened. However, the unevenness of black illumination is visible only in very dark scenes and in almost complete darkness; it should not be considered a significant drawback. Note that the rigidity of the cover is low, it is slightly deformed at the slightest applied force, and the deformation greatly changes the nature of the illumination of the black field.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. However, when deviated diagonally, the black field is greatly brightened and acquires a slight red-violet tint.

The response time for the black-white-black transition is 9 ms (5 ms on + 4 ms off), the transition between halftones of gray in total (from hue to hue and back) takes an average of 13 ms. The matrix is ​​fast, but there is no obvious overclocking.

Let's see if this matrix speed is enough to output images at a frequency of 240 Hz. Here is the dependence of brightness on time when alternating white and black frames at a 240 Hz frame rate:

It can be seen that at 240 Hz the maximum brightness of a white frame is slightly above 90% of the white level, and the minimum brightness of a black frame is close to 10%. The resulting amplitude swing is slightly above 80% of white brightness. That is, according to this formal criterion, the speed of the matrix is sufficient for full image output with a frame rate of 240 Hz.

For a clear idea of what such a matrix speed means in practice, and what overclocking artifacts may be, we present a series of images taken using a moving camera. Such pictures show what a person sees if he follows an object moving on the screen with his eyes. Recommended settings were used (movement speed 960 pixels/s, shutter speed 1/15 s, refresh rate values are indicated in the photographs.

It can be seen that, other things being equal, image clarity increases as the refresh rate increases; there are no artifacts.

Let's try to imagine what would happen in the case of a matrix with instant pixel switching. For it, at 60 Hz an object with a movement speed of 960 pixels/s is blurred by 16 pixels, at 240 Hz — by 4 pixels. Blurred as the focus moves at the specified speed and the subject is held still for 1/60 or 1/240 of a second. To illustrate this, let's simulate a blur of 16 and 4 pixels:

It can be seen that the clarity of the real image is slightly lower compared to the ideal matrix.

We determined the total output delay from switching video buffer pages to the start of displaying the image on the screen (remember that it depends on the operating characteristics of Windows OS and the video card, and not just on the display). At 240Hz refresh rate the latency is 4ms. This is a very small delay, it is absolutely not felt when working on a PC, and in very dynamic games it will not lead to a decrease in performance.

In the screen settings, you can choose from two refresh rates — 60 and 240 Hz. Judging by the data on the control panel with the settings of the integrated video adapter, the screen supports Adaptive Sync in the range from 60 to 240 Hz. However, Nvidia G-Sync is not supported even in the Compatible variant. Supports operation in 10 bits per color mode and display on the screen with the same color depth. We carry out this test using the NEC Display Solutions 10 bit Color Depth Demo program. This test shows whether programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premier Pro that use OpenGL can produce 10-bit color output on the monitor.

Next, we measured the brightness of 256 shades of gray (from 0, 0, 0 to 255, 255, 255). The graph below shows the increase (not absolute value!) in brightness between adjacent halftones:

The increase in brightness on the gray scale is basically uniform, and each subsequent shade is brighter than the previous one, with the exception of one of the lightest shades of gray, which is no different in brightness from white. However, this does not spoil the overall picture. In the darkest area, all shades are distinguished hardware-wise and visually, which is very good for a gaming laptop:

The resulting gamma curve was fitted with a value of 2.27, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the approximating power function:

Color gamut is close to sRGB:

Therefore, visually, the colors of images oriented to output in the sRGB space on this screen have a natural saturation. Below is the spectrum for the white field (white line), superimposed on the spectra of the red, green and blue fields (lines of the corresponding colors):

Apparently, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and green and red phosphors (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in principle, allows for good separation of the components. Yes, and the red phosphor apparently uses so-called quantum dots. However, specially selected filters cross-mix the components, which narrows the coverage to sRGB.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is very good, since the color temperature is close to the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is below 3 units, which is considered an excellent indicator even for a professional device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue — this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize. The screen of this laptop has a fairly high maximum brightness (354 cd/m²), so that the device can be used outdoors on a bright day, shielded from direct sunlight. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level (up to 17 cd/m²). The advantages of the screen include a high refresh rate (240 Hz), a fast matrix, low output latency (4 ms), natural colors (sRGB coverage) and very good color balance. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane. In general, the quality of the screen is high, and from the point of view of the screen properties, the laptop can quite reasonably be classified as a gaming laptop.

The power battery consists of four lithium-ion cells enclosed in a common outer shell. The total capacity is 62 Wh.

To get an idea of ​​how this compares to battery life in practice. Before testing, the screen brightness is set to 100 cd/m² (in our case, this corresponds to about 27% of the corresponding parameter in Windows settings), so machines with dim displays do not benefit.

Anyone who decides to seriously play modern games without connecting a laptop to an electrical outlet will not be envied, since automatic performance and consumption limits will turn gameplay into torture. However, sometimes you can do other things on a gaming machine, not to mention watching videos, and in these cases the battery always comes to the rescue. However, the autonomy indicators of the hero of our review are low.

When working with text or browsing Internet pages without complex scripts and a minimum level of keyboard backlighting, our hero is able to serve the user on one full charge for 3 hours 12 minutes when outputting video through a video card or 3 hours 45 minutes when using only the integrated graphics. You can watch the video on its screen in the first case for 2 hours 23 minutes, and in the second case for 2 hours 49 minutes. However, it shouldn’t be any other way with gaming machines.

The power adapter of the Maibenben X639 is bulky and heavy (688 g) to match the high rated power of 330 W.

The adapter connects to the laptop using a proprietary coaxial connector.

The LED on the power button glows red until the charge reaches 100%, and then switches to blue.

The battery reaches half capacity in 32 minutes, 80% in 56 minutes, and charges from zero to 100% in 1 hour 55 minutes. Therefore, charging up to 50%-60% should be considered the most advantageous mode, especially since in this way it will be possible to extend the battery life (according to some sources, from 6 months to a year in addition to the warranty period).

Maibenben X639 is equipped with two network adapters: a built-in Realtek RTL 8125 Ethernet adapter and an Intel AX211NGW tri-band wireless adapter that complies with Wi-Fi 6E and the IEEE 802.11ax standard.

To test their performance, tests were carried out in a network environment, including the Internet and two LAN segments. Connection to the global network is provided by the MGTS/MTS provider via a gigabit passive optical network (GPON). The secondary device of the network, but the main organizer of its infrastructure, is the TP-Link Archer AX72 Wi-Fi 6 AX5400 router. Its functionality includes WAN access, LAN distribution and Wi-Fi.

The logical center of the 2.5-Gigabit segment is served by an 8-port TP-Link TL-SG108-M2 switch, a compact and easy-to-use device. For control measurements, two desktops with 2.5-Gigabit PCI adapters TP-Link TX201 were used, running the iperf measurement application in “client” mode on one, and in “server” mode on the other, which was being tested. This made it possible to compare indicators and use them as a reference. Next, in a similar way, the performance of the Maibenben X639 on a 2.5 Gbit/s local network was measured using the iperf utility.

Using the iperf “server” on the Maibenben X639 made it possible to evaluate its performance and compare it with the reference desktop.

The results obtained are quite consistent with expectations.

Let's take a look at the wireless network and compare the results obtained by the Intel AX211 adapters in the Maibenben X639 laptop, the Intel AX210 in the Lenovo Thinkbook 14s Yoga and the Intel AX211 in the Lyambda LLT173M01.

Client devices were connected via Wi-Fi (5 GHz band) to a TP-Link Archer AX72 wireless router in three rooms:

1. At a distance of 4 m from the router in its line of sight (without obstacles);
2. At a distance of 4 m from the router with an obstacle in the form of one brick wall;
3. At a distance of 6 m from the router with obstacles in the form of two brick walls.

The iperf “server” application was launched on the clients. The measuring station was a reference desktop connected to the same router via a UTP Cat5E cable, and the iperf “client” application was launched on it.

It is noticeable that in terms of connection speeds, the adapters behave almost identically; in any case, in real life, no difference in connection speeds between them can be detected, so we should conclude that the consistency of the hero of the review in terms of his work in wireless networks has been proven.

The modesty of the set of three scenarios should be welcomed, since the user should not have any difficulties choosing the one he needs (everything is clear from the names). For other laptop manufacturers, proprietary utilities may contain 5-6 different profiles, and sometimes it is difficult to guess what the differences are, for example, between the “Quiet”, “Office” or “Economy” modes.

Let's turn to the SPC settings block in the «Performance» section. SPC is most likely System Performance Control, that is, system performance control. This is what the parameter values look like in turbo mode.

To configure the Maibenben X639, the manufacturer provides the ability to change the following parameters, which have preset values:

CPU:

• PL1 (Power Limit 1): Maximum consumption in basic mode, available range 30–95 W.
• PL2 (Power Limit 2): Maximum consumption in turbo mode, available range 30–95 W.
• PL4 (Power Limit 4): Absolute peak power limit, available range 30-215 W.
• TCC (Thermal Control Circuit) Offset: Temperature increase, available range of changes from 5 to 10 °C. It is important not to allow the CPU temperature to exceed 100 °C.

The manufacturer recommends PL1 from 45 to 55 W, PL2 up to 157 W, but actual values can be set by the manufacturer.

Discrete video accelerator:

• Core Clock Offset: GPU overclocking, available range from 0 to 200 MHz.
• Memory Clock Offset: Changes the video memory clock frequency, available range is ±1000 MHz.
• Temperature value (maximum heating): Available range of changes is from 75 to 87 °C.

These parameter settings can affect system clock speed, power consumption, and temperature. The following is a table showing changes in parameters under various operating modes (office, balanced, turbo mode) using air and liquid cooling under maximum load on the central processor, video card and both computers. The last column shows the fan speeds as a percentage of the maximum speed.

When idle, the CPU warms up no more than 50 °C with a consumption of 11 W, and the video card does not exceed 43 °C with a power consumption of 5 W. Coolers rotate at minimum speed.

Maximum CPU load

In office mode, Maibenben X639 works without activating the initial overclocking. The indicators of all parameters, with the exception of temperature, remain stable and do not change over time. The maximum consumption is 45 W, which is lower than the nameplate 55 W, while the P-core frequencies reach 2.2 GHz, and the E-cores reach 1.9 GHz. By the third minute of the test, the CPU temperature reaches 67°C and remains at this level until the end of the test. Connecting liquid cooling does not improve performance: power consumption remains at 45 W, clock frequencies remain unchanged (2.2 GHz for P-cores and 1.9 GHz for E-cores), and the maximum processor temperature decreases by only 4 degrees up to 63 °C.

In Balanced mode, the Maibenben X639 does not activate Turbo Boost mode, and all indicators, with the exception of temperature, remain stable throughout the test. Power consumption is 75 W, which is significantly higher than the standard 55 W. Without the use of liquid cooling, the clock speeds of the P-cores are 3.0 GHz, and the E-cores are 2.6 GHz at a temperature of 84 °C. However, with the use of liquid cooling, the P-core clock speed is increased to 3.1 GHz, and the processor temperature is reduced to 74 °C, while the E-core clock frequency remains at 2.6 GHz, and the power consumption remains the same — 75 Tue

In the Maibenben X639 turbo mode, the Turbo Boost mode is activated with an initial increase in power consumption to 119 W. As a result, the P-cores reach 3.8 GHz and the E-cores reach 3.2 GHz. However, under such a load the processor heats up to 96°C, and reactive throttling occurs in half of the P-cores. This leads to a reduction in consumption to 88 W, and processor frequencies drop: P-cores to 3 GHz, E-cores to 2.8 GHz. The CPU temperature decreases by only 1 degree (to 95 °C), but without overheating or throttling. The CPU works stably until the end of the test.

The use of liquid cooling allows you to increase the maximum power output to 140 W. In this case, the P-cores reach 4.1 GHz and the E-cores reach 3.4 GHz. However, throttling appears in six cores. After a couple of seconds, the indicators stabilize at a consumption of 101 W, a clock frequency of P-cores of 3.5 GHz and E-cores of 3 GHz. The temperature remains at 95 °C and throttling no longer occurs.

Maximum GPU load

The discrete graphics of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop is capable of operating at clock speeds of up to 1.86 GHz in standard mode and up to 2.28 GHz when overclocked. According to the specifications, the maximum consumption is 150 W.

In office mode, the video card initially consumes 154 W, which exceeds the rated value of 150 W. The clock speed is 2.3 GHz, also slightly higher than Nvidia's prescribed 2.28 GHz. However, when the GPU temperature reaches 78 °C, the auto-adjustment algorithm reduces the maximum consumption to 84 W and the maximum clock speed to 1.7 GHz. This causes jagged jumps in the performance graphs, sometimes with even more severe drops to 28 W and 0.6 GHz. The average temperature of the video card drops to a safe 67°C, but performance is significantly limited.

When using liquid cooling, the maximum power consumption (150 W) and clock speed (2.1 GHz) are maintained stably without changes at a temperature of 68 °C throughout the test.

In balanced mode, the power draw is slightly less than in office mode (152 W versus 154 W). Unlike the more energy-efficient scenario, in this higher performance scenario the power take-off does not change automatically and is kept at a constant level throughout the test runs. The clock speed is also lower than in Office mode (2.1 GHz vs. 2.3 GHz), but occasionally drops to 1.8 GHz and then returns to 2.1 GHz. The temperature is 80 °C on average.

The use of water cooling does not reduce consumption (150 W vs. 152 W without LSO), but the clock speed becomes higher (2.2 GHz vs. 2.1 GHz) and the GPU temperature is lower (76 °C vs. 80 °C). Another advantage is a significant reduction in noise from laptop fans: 40% of maximum speed with LSS versus 95% without it.

In turbo mode, a record of power take-off by a video card during the stabilization period is achieved — 174 W. This frequency reaches 2.4 GHz. The fans spin up immediately to maximum speed. After 1.5 minutes of operation under maximum load, the video card warms up to 85 °C, and the automation, in accordance with the algorithm assigned to it, slightly reduces consumption (to the mentioned 174 W), which is why the clock frequency output decreases (up to 2 GHz). The temperature, however, remains at the achieved level until the test runs are completed.

When operating the LSS, the video card takes a little less power (173 W), and the clock frequency reaches only 2.3 GHz (versus 2.4 GHz) than when working with traditional cooling. But the heating of the GPU stops at 78°C, and the laptop fans are much quieter (55% of maximum speed versus 100%).

Maximum load on CPU and GPU

In office mode, the initial stage resembles overclocking, but in fact represents an attempt by the computers to consume more power: 45 W for the CPU and 153 W for the GPU. Meanwhile, the processor frequency reaches 2.1 GHz for P-cores and 1.8 GHz for E-cores, and the video card reaches 2.4 GHz. The temperature of both computers rises to 77°C, while the laptop fans operate at maximum speed. As a result, the automation strictly limits consumption (up to 18 W for the CPU, up to 15 W for the GPU), which reduces the frequency (up to 0.5 GHz for P-cores, 0.4 GHz for E-cores, 0.3 GHz for the video card). After a few minutes, the CPU temperature drops to 43°C, the GPU to 37°C, but the fans continue to operate at maximum speed, and even turning off the load does not return them to normal mode; To restore normal operation, you have to restart the system. This is probably due to inadequate office mode settings.

When using LSS, the situation improves: the temperature of both computers stabilizes at 75 °C. Automatic regulation does not react to this, maintaining constant consumption: 45 W for the CPU, 153 W for the GPU. The laptop fans rotate at 55% of maximum speed.

In balanced mode with standard cooling, the picture resembles what we saw in the office scenario, but with higher parameter values. Initially, the CPU consumption reaches 75 W, the GPU 158 W with a clock speed of 3 GHz for P-cores, 1.8 GHz for E-cores and after a minute the central processor warms up to 93 °C, and the video card — up to 87 °C. The latest “achievement” encourages automation to impose restrictions on the “gluttony” of computers. However, the graphics processor, as usual, tends to take its own, so the power output decreases only for the CPU (up to 48 W), while for the GPU it even increases slightly (up to 158 W). As a result, the temperature of both chips does not change, but auto-adjustment does not apply additional measures, and the indicators stabilize at the achieved levels until the end of testing.

Activating the LCS eliminates this “slowdown” (the same as in office mode), however, the achievements with stable operation in terms of clock frequency and consumption of both computers are higher, and the temperature regime is more favorable than with standard cooling. In addition, the rotation speed of the laptop fans is significantly reduced (from 95% to 55% of the maximum).

In turbo mode, there is a short period of initial activation of Turbo Boost, when CPU consumption reaches 125 W at a clock frequency of P-cores of 3.8 GHz, E-cores of 3.4 GHz. The CPU warms up to 95°C, but neither overheating nor throttling is detected. When overclocked, the video card consumes 180 W at 87 °C. It is the latter indicator that the regulating automation reacts to, reducing the power output of both computers: CPU to 50 W, GPU to 150 W. The processor temperature stabilizes at 91°C, the video card at 82°C.

When using LSS, the CPU initially consumes 139 W with a clock frequency output of 4.1 GHz for P-cores and 3.4 GHz for E-cores. The CPU warms up to 96°C, overheating and throttling are detected in four high-performance cores. The video card shows a record consumption during overclocking in our tests — 184 W — and a maximum output at a clock frequency of 2.6 GHz (another record) at an unsafe temperature of 87 °C. As a result, the power draw is reduced: for the CPU to 59 W with a drop in the clock frequency of P-cores to 3.5 GHz and E-cores to 3 GHz, for the GPU — to 171 W and 2.3 GHz (again, graphics are in priority). The processor temperature stabilizes at 92°C, the video card at 82°C. The noise of the laptop's own fans decreases to a lesser extent than with other types of maximum load, but still amounts to 77% of the maximum versus 100% with standard cooling.

Based on the test results, it must be admitted that the standard cooling system functions quite satisfactorily. The maximum consumption of computers is achieved in turbo mode: for CPUs with LSS — 140 W during overclocking and 101 W during stable operation; for GPU — 184 W when overclocked with LSS and 174 W during stable operation without LSS. The use of water cooling should be considered certainly useful in terms of increasing consumption and clock speed, as well as more efficient cooling with reduced noise of standard coolers.

We measure the noise level in a special soundproof and semi-muffled chamber. In this case, the microphone of the sound level meter is positioned relative to the laptop so as to simulate the typical position of the user’s head: the screen is tilted back 45 degrees (or maximum if the screen does not tilt 45 degrees), the axis of the microphone coincides with the normal emanating from the center of the screen, the front end of the microphone is located at a distance of 50 cm from the screen plane, the microphone is aimed at the screen. The load is created using the powerMax program, the screen brightness is set to maximum, the room temperature is maintained at 24 degrees, but the laptop is not specially ventilated, so in the immediate vicinity the air temperature may be higher. To estimate real consumption, we also present (for some modes) consumption from the network. The battery is pre-charged to 100%, turbo mode is selected in the settings of the proprietary utility. First, work without life support:

If the laptop is not loaded at all, its coolers still rotate continuously, but the noise is low. The character of the latter, even under high load, is smooth and does not cause irritation. The spectrogram obtained in the case of maximum load is quite smooth, and there are no pronounced peaks in the frequency range where sounds can cause particular irritation:

To subjectively assess the noise level, we use the following scale:

Below 20 dBA the computer is conditionally silent, from 20 to 25 dBA the laptop can be called very quiet, from 25 to 30 dBA the noise from the cooling system will not stand out much against the background of the typical sounds surrounding the user in an office with several employees and working computers, from 30 to 35 dBA noise is clearly audible, from 35 to 40 dBA the noise exceeds a comfortable level for long-term work, from 40 to 45 dBA the laptop is very noisy and for work it is necessary, for example, masking with background music, from 45 to 50 dBA the noise level is very uncomfortable, and From 50 dBA and above the noise is so loud that headphones must be used. The scale, of course, is very arbitrary and does not take into account the individual characteristics of the user and the nature of the sound.

Below are thermal images taken after long-term operation of the laptop under maximum load on the CPU and GPU (turbo mode):